What if you got a phone call that told you that today is your last day alive? In They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, two boys, Mateo and Rufus who live completely different lives receive a phone call from a company called Death-Cast, who calls you on the day you’re going to die. But with this knowledge of only having 24 hours to live, they ultimately cross paths on Last-Friend, an app where people who have received a phone call from Death-Cast can find a friend to make their last day special, and decide to live their last day to the fullest together. On their last day, through a lot of opening up and through doing many activities out of their comfort zones, they build a very strong connection with each other. We also see the point of view of many other characters who end up crossing paths with Rufus and Mateo, and small snippets of their day, either going about their day as someone who did not receive a phone call from Death-Cast or as someone who unfortunately did.

I enjoyed this book even though it was very sad and made me cry a lot. It made me reflect a lot on what I would do if I only had 24 hours to live. It also helped me realize that we have to live life to the fullest because unlike in this book, in our world we never know which day will be our last and we shouldn’t die regretting how we lived our life. I liked that the book included different points of view of people other than Rufus and Mateo, and I liked seeing them all cross paths.

Review by: Amy Peña

Amy is in the 12th grade and volunteers at the Canoga Park Library. She chose to read this book because the concept seemed very interesting even though she already knew what was going to happen (because of the title).

—Marcia Melkonian, Young Adult Librarian, Canoga Park Branch